Mutation
by Orangen
Summary: Post Diamond and Pearl. Team Galactic has had control of Sinnoh for nearly five hundred years. When a high-ranking officer learns an important secret about the team, she pays the price...


_Disclaimer_: Why would I have to write fan fiction about Pokémon if I owned it?

_Author's Note_: Okay, so, this is the back story of some characters I submitted to SH313's story, The Elite of the Elite. This can be read on its own, or with his fic. Go check it out; it's one of his best fics, and it's pretty interesting anyway.

Oh, and this (like EOTE) assumes that Cyrus did manage to succeed at Spear Pillar. It also assumes that Team Galactic has almost absolute rule over Sinnoh, and takes place about 500 years after the events of Diamond and Pearl.

**Mutation**

**Date and Time:** June 6, 4:32 P.M.  
**Location:** Galactic Veilstone Building

_Fingerprint data approved._

_Officer Jodi Saffron_—_Access Granted._

"Jodi. I assume you know why you're here."

Jodi's thick-soled boots echoed on the tiling as she approached her superior's desk. Uranus slowly turned around in his swivel chair, his steel-blue eyes narrowing as he looked the girl over. Her uniform was wrinkled and her long, light brown hair was a mess… Her scruffy appearance was unlike her.

"But first… What is wrong with you?"

"I apologize, Uranus, sir," Jodi replied in a monotone. "I had a problem with Marion earlier, sir, and I did not have time to straighten my hair and uniform."

The blue-haired man snorted. Marion was a small Cubone that Jodi had found on one of her missions. As the boss seemed rather partial to Jodi, she'd been allowed to keep the blasted thing, although most other Galactic members (or anyone else, for that matter) did not own any Pokémon.

"Hmm…" Uranus yawned. "I suppose that can't be helped. Now, then, back to business."

"It's the Torkoal mission, sir. My grunts failed to capture the target Pokémon and it escaped, injuring three grunts in the process."

"That's it exactly. I haven't officially reported this to the boss yet, and if you want it to stay that way, you better take a new mission and complete it _successfully_, understand? If you want to keep that Cubone for much longer, you better not fail."

A rare show of emotion passed over Jodi's face at Uranus's last statement. However, she then nodded curtly.

"Yes, sir. Ready and waiting for orders, sir."

"All right. Take your grunts and your radar and head out to Route 209. We've been receiving satellite images showing a Tauros and a Miltank in the area. The boss wants them, so go get them."

"Yes, sir."

"Remember, Officer, failure is unacceptable this time."

"I know, sir."

Uranus smirked satisfactorily as Jodi left his office. It felt excellent having the stoic girl in the palm of his hand…

* * *

**Date and Time:** June 6, 10:54 P.M.  
**Location:** Route 209

"All right, grunts! Spread out! The radar's picking up our targets, and they're close by. If any one of you screws up, you're _all_ getting salary cuts, got it?"

"Got it, Officer!"

Jodi folded her arms over her chest as she watched the grunts pushed through the shrubbery and tall grass. One of them—a small, skinny girl named Starr—approached Jodi, however.

"Um, C-Commander Jodi, ma'am?" she stammered. "I was j-just wondering… Why do we have to catch so many Pokémon all the time?"

"The boss wants them for something, and that's reason enough for me."

"B-But, what is he using them for?" Starr squeaked.

"I don't really know, nor do I particularly care," Jodi frowned. "Now get back out there!"

"Y-Yes, ma'am!"

Moments after Starr scurried away, the grunts began shouting. Snorts were heard—most likely from the Tauros and the Miltank—and then there was silence.

"Commander! We've secured the targets," one of the grunts panted, approaching her with his tranquilizer gun still in hand. "Permission to use Master Balls?"

"Permission granted."

Jodi carefully pulled the pair of Master Balls out of her pocket and tossed them to the grunt. Presumably, the capture device had been developed by Team Galactic's founder, Cyrus, and were now exclusively manufactured for the team. Or course, it wasn't like anyone else used Pokéballs any more these days, anyway—everyone was too scared of Team Galactic, and the boss gave everyone strict orders to arrest any trainers. Jodi didn't know the whole story herself, but she assumed it had something to do with a nearly disastrous incident that Cyrus had gotten into.

Shaking her head, Jodi watched the grunt hurry back towards the targets and capture them. At least her mission had gone well this time, and that was all that really mattered to her.

* * *

**Time and Date:** June 7, 7:30 A.M.  
**Location:** Galactic Veilstone Building

"Bone?"

Marion waddled around Jodi's desk as the brunette sighed and stood up. She'd just gotten back to the base a few hours ago, and although she was quite tired, she couldn't sleep. The Cubone looked curiously up at her, and Jodi gave Marion one of her rare smiles.

"I'm fine, Marion… I was just preoccupied."

The grunt's words had been replaying in her head ever since she'd gotten back. _Why do we have to catch so many Pokémon all the time? What does he need them for?_

Jodi had been a member of Team Galactic basically since she'd been born. Both of her parents had been members as well, and their family had been working for the organization for decades. Yet now was the first time Jodi had ever felt any misgivings about what they were doing…

"Cubone?"

Marion was still looking up at Jodi, and the brunette sighed. She stood up and walked to her office door, with Marion toddling along behind her.

"Perhaps I just need to stretch a bit, Marion."

The metal door slid open as Jodi input her pin code into the code pad beside it. She and Marion stepped out into the winding, thinly-carpeted hallway, and their footsteps sounded rather dull as they started walking. Marion's bone dragged behind her, causing a light scraping sound.

"Ah, _Officer_. It's great that your mission went well, isn't it?"

Jodi looked up somewhat blankly as she passed the door to one of the building's many R-and-D rooms. Admin Uranus and just stepped out, and he was sneering slightly; usually, only admins and scientists were granted access to the testing rooms.

"…Thank you, sir," Jodi answered stiffly, catching the sarcasm the man had employed on the word "officer."

"I suppose I can permit you in here," Uranus said disinterestedly, gesturing to the room he'd just left. "Since you _were_ successful. Would you like to see how your targets are?"

"Yes, sir."

Jodi obediently followed after Uranus with Marion in tow, but truth be told she was actually quite interested. She'd never had the chance to go inside an R-and-D room, so she hoped she'd get a good look around.

However, when she entered, Jodi felt the color drain out of her face. Scientists were rushing around, carrying various-sized beakers and syringes, trying to avoid hitting all the large tubes and tables in the room. The scent of chemicals and cleaners was overpowering, but that wasn't the real issue.

On the table closest to the entrance, a large… creature was splayed out, facing towards Jodi and Uranus. Its body _looked_ like a Miltank's, but it was leaner and had three tails like a Tauros. The most horrifying feature was its two heads—one was a Tauros's, and the other was a Miltank's.

As Jodi looked around the room, she realized all the other tubes and tables were filled with similar test Pokémon and hybrids. She caught a Torchic and Chimchar mix nearby with burnt skin where the limbs had been fused, and there was a Skuntank and Purugly mix in one of the tubes.

"Isn't this amazing, Officer?" Uranus breathed, stroking the Tauros-and-Miltank-mix's body. "With all this, we can…"

Jodi's breath quickened as she cut him off. "We can do what, sir? What exactly is the point of this? It's… It's horrible, sir!"

"Horrible?" Uranus repeated disdainfully. "It's amazing! Don't tell me you never knew about this! What do you think we were using all the Pokémon for?"

"I… I…"

"There were some that were tested for mutations of their own… While others were used for testing various products. Would you like to know more, _Officer_, or would you like to stay in the dark?"

"I can't believe I've been oblivious this whole time, sir," Jodi muttered. "I won't let this go quietly…"

"Who will you tell? All of Sinnoh is under our control! Nobody will believe you."

"I'm sure there's—"

"Officer Saffron," Uranus interrupted coolly. "Shut up. To be quite honest, you've been a thorn in my side ever since that botched mission of yours. And now here you are with this little outburst. You really are quite troublesome."

"Wh-what do you mean, Uranus, sir?" Jodi blinked.

He seemed to be ignoring her, though, as he turned around and snapped his fingers. Several scientists came rushing over, and Jodi suddenly felt a pit form in her stomach.

"Tell me, boys, have you ever tried mixing a Pokémon with a human?"

"N-no, sir," one of them said uncertainly. "But it shouldn't be too much different from normal, right?"

"That's right." Uranus turned back to Jodi, sneering. "Good bye, Officer."

"But… Wait…" Jodi stammered.

"Don't worry. I'm sure the rest of the team will understand when I tell them about the Torkoal mission, don't you? They'll be glad that you were a guinea pig, and they certainly won't mind if the experiment goes wrong."

Jodi opened her mouth again, but before she could force anything out, she felt a needle jab into her arm. She started feeling dizzy, and the last thing she heard before passing out was Marion's startled cry…

* * *

**Date and Time:** Unknown  
**Location:** Galactic Veilstone Building

"What are those… _things_?"

"I-I don't know, sir!"

"Something must have gone wrong, sir! This has never happened before!"

"Of course it hasn't happened before, you idiots! Just get those abominations out of my sight! Now!"

"Yes, sir! R-Right away, sir!"

* * *

**Date and Time:** Unknown  
**Location:** Unknown

"Ugh… Where…"

Jodi's head spun as she slowly sat up. Her back and legs were wet and cold, and her uniform was ripped in several places. She saw a small figure a few feet away in the dim lighting, and she immediately crawled over, her knees dragging through grass.

"M-Marion! Is that you?"

"Jodi?"

The Cubone sat up, smiling. Jodi stumbled backwards, panicking as she looked at Marion. Her eyes were decidedly smaller and more slanted from what Jodi could see, and her fingers were longer like a human's. She was also quite a bit taller—at least a foot more than she'd been before. But of course, none of that was processing in Jodi's mind; there was one detail that was a bit more important to her.

"Why can I understand you? Say something again!" she choked.

"Um… What's wrong?" Marion asked curiously. "Where are we, anyway?"

Jodi shook her head rapidly. They obviously weren't anywhere near the Veilstone building, or even near the city at all. This had to be a nightmare…

She cried in surprise when her hand grazed something cool. Spinning around, Jodi realized she was staring into a lake. The moon was reflected in the water, lighting it up enough for her to see her own reflection, and Jodi suddenly felt nauseous.

Her hair was bleached almost white, and it was nowhere near as long as it had been before. Furthermore, her skin was a pale brown color, and shocked gray eyes were looking back up at her. She'd felt odd before, but only then did she notice that it was because her arms and legs were far too short. To top it off, a short brown tail was poking out of one of the holes in the back of her clothing.

"What's wrong with me?" the normally calm girl wailed, splashing her reflection.

"Jodi?" Marion's voice was quivering, and she sounded like a frightened child. "What are you doing?"

Jodi silently curled up into a ball, tears threatening to fall from her eyes. If only she hadn't followed Uranus into the R-and-D room… She and Marion would still have been normal.

And Jodi had no idea where to go or what to do. All she'd ever known was Team Galactic, and now that she'd basically been kicked out, she had nothing. Even if she'd wanted to go back, there was no way she'd be able to what with how she looked now…

She shivered as a gust of wind rustled the trees and grass surrounding them. Marion timidly tried to cuddle against her for warmth, but a sudden gasp from the altered Cubone made Jodi look up.

"Hey. You can't just sit around and bawl, you know! That's no way be."

A tall, slim girl put a hand on her hip as she looked down at Jodi. The former Galactic couldn't take her eyes off the girl's hand; it was orange, and she simply had three claws instead of fingers. Slowly, Jodi looked away when she saw something twitch behind the girl—it was a long, orange, flame-tipped tail.

"C'mon! Get up already."

Jodi wobbled to her feet, her boots feeling ridiculously large. The nauseated feeling returned as she looked at the girl in front of her. In addition to the claws and tail, she had a pair of large wings growing out of her back, and long ears extended from her orange-skinned face. The short length of her red hair made her yellow eyes even clearer.

"My name's Flare," she introduced, extending a claw. "And you can stop looking so pitiful now! It can't be good for the little one. Is she your sister or something?"

"What are you talking about?" Jodi asked shakily. "This is… This isn't normal! I'm a human!"

"Huh?" Flare blinked. "You look like a pair of Cubone Pokémorphs to me. I guess not, though…"

"What's a Pokémorph, Miss Flare?" Marion asked.

"Oh… So you really aren't morphs, then," Flare frowned. "Anyway… That's the term most people use for someone like me. I mean, my dad's a human and my mom's a Charizard. You can put the rest together from there."

"That's impossible!" Jodi cried, feeling dizzier by the second. "Marion and I were a botched experiment by Team Galactic. That's the only way something like that could happen!"

"No it's not. I've never been a part of Team Galactic, nor do I ever intend to be. I couldn't draw attention to my parents like that, especially my mother," Flare replied, shrugging. "Besides… There's an underground resistance group fighting them. Did you know?"

"H-Huh?" Jodi blinked. "But… There can't be. No one is crazy enough to resist them."

"Well, I think this group might be your type of crazy," Flare winked. "Come on. I've done some scouting around, and I have a decent amount of information about them. If I recall correctly, their base isn't too far from here. You think you can make it?"

Jodi gulped as she looked down at Marion. The Cubone looked back up at her, and then at Flare.

"I think we can trust Miss Flare!" Marion smiled. "Besides, this group sounds nice."

"All right then. We're… We're going with you, Flare."

"Great! Come on, I think I know the way."

Slowly, Jodi followed after Flare. She felt ridiculously like a baby Torchic trailing a Blaziken, but the overjoyed look on Marion's face was well worth it.

* * *

**Time and Date:** Unknown  
**Jodi's Journal**

_I changed after that_—_it may sound cliché, but that fateful encounter changed my life. I had to become more open and relaxed, or else I wouldn't have been able to accept myself. Flare, Marion, and I joined the small band of resistance fighters, aiding the illegal trainers that I had once dedicated myself to eradicating. We fought against the organization I had once fought for… But I was perfectly fine with that._

_After all, I felt like I had a home with this group. For the first time in my life, I felt like I had friends beyond Marion._

_Team Galactic wouldn't have much of a chance continuing their cruel ways, or at least not while we were around to fight them._


End file.
